Seeds
Seeds provide an excellent way of adding particles into your swim.
Very attractive to fish of many species
Hemp
Feeding Hemp mixed with samples of the hook bait, attracts fish into your swim.
Can also be deadly on the hook and is far easier to use than you may think.
Preparation
Warning it does pong a bit, so get permission from other household members, alternatively cook it outside on a camping stove.
Get the best hemp Chilean is said to be darker and larger but its more difficult to obtain, personally I use standard hemp from the tackle shop.
Put the hemp in a pan, add a pinch of bicarbonate of soda to help the colouring,cover with water and bring to the boil at this point turn down the heat until the contents are just simmering, put the lid on, inspect frequently, checking water levels and the condition of the hemp, when the majority of the grains are showing a small white shoot the hemp is ready.
Do not over cook or add too much bicarb as this will stain the white shoot, the best bait will have a dark almost black shell with a contrasting white shoot.
Hemp as a hook bait
When the water is warm hemp on the hook can be very effective.
To put hemp on the hook, gently press the grain between finger and thumb,a small crack will open where the shoot is, simply
put the back bend of the hook into the crack and release the pressure, the gap will close trapping the hook.
Little and often is the way to feed hemp when using it as a hook bait, it may take some time to get the fish feeding, but when they do they tend to be quality fish.
Pops Tip:
Seeds used as hook bait are most effective when used prior to introducing maggots into your swim.
Tares
Normally used in conjunction with hemp, where hemp is the attraction and tares are the hook bait, only add a few tares to the hemp feed.
Prepared in a similar manner to hemp ,a lot more care is needed to achieve the right consistency, stop cooking as soon as you can penetrate the skin with a hook, over cooked tares can be
responsible for missed bites, left on the stove for a minute or two too long and they become squashy and are useless.
Sweet corn
Easy to obtain and needs little preparation, either frozen or canned are fine, although I prefer canned that I have rinsed to remove any sticky liquid.
A 16 or 14 hook is about right, best fished just touching the bottom.
Wheat
Little used these days but deadly on the right day.
Put some wheat in to a thermos flask, top up with boiling water until 2/3 full, fit stopper and leave to soak over night.
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